Sanity is Overrated
by QueenBjorn
Summary: In which Seneca has the guts to actually do something about Katniss, as he was asked to. The winner has to deal with their slipping sanity... but is that really a bad thing?
1. Chapter 1

Day 10 of the 74th Hunger Games. Early morning in Panem, and the citizens begin to awake, not knowing what the head gamemaker, Seneca Crane, was about to unleash in the arena, with some.. encouragement from President Snow.

The citizens of the Capitol awoke in excitement, ready for the next day. The last two days had been a bit a treat for them, with four deaths, two each day, and quite a bit of exciting entertainment in the arena as well. It could only get better, more exciting from here, with 6 tributes left, 5 of them seemed in contention for the victory, and very soon the gamemakers would bring them together, and the Capitol would have a new victor, a new sweetheart.

The citizens of the districts awoke in dread, most of them not looking forward to seeing their dead return from the arena soon after the game, bodies mangled, some unrecognizable. Others, with tributes left in the games, dreaded the possible death of their tribute. District 2, had some… excitement might not be the right word, to it, with two tributes left, both healthier and stronger than the others remaining, they could see one of them come home. But, no district awoke with more dread than District 11, despite the fact that they had still a tribute in the games.

The day before, their female tribute, Rue, had died. She had allied with the female tribute from 12, Katniss. Rue was killed by the Male from District 1, Marvel, who was quickly killed by Katniss. Katniss held Rue in her arms as she died… singing to her. She covered her in flowers before leaving with a salute that meant very much in District 12.

This touched the hearts of the District 11 citizens. Who gave her a sponsor of bread, originally meant for Rue, before they unfortunately, starting rioting. Eventually, it was put down. On both sides, a number of deaths. The citizens were under close watch today… not many were put to work though. An order from President Snow. He had a plan to crush their rebellious spirit. As long as his head Gamemaker was willing to participate. And why wouldn't he be?

Seneca Crane walked through President Snow's rose garden. Snow had asked Seneca what he had planned in response to the uprising in District 11. Snow put it quite bluntly. He wanted Katniss dead. He wanted Thresh dead. And he wanted it done brutally. Snow made sure, on no uncertain terms, that Katniss or Thresh were not to win the Games. They were to be killed at the quickest but brutalist method.

Seneca took his seat in the Gamemaker's room. They had to die, Snow wanted them dead. If one of them won, Seneca's own life was on the line. Today would be best. He looked down at the projected map infront of him, debating with himself what would be the best method of following what the President wanted. Brutality in Death.

Like in Panem, in the Arena, the sun was rising, the remaining tributes awaking. There were 6 left. 5 were hot bets. The 6th, Peeta, from 12, was not. He had done well to survive this long, but it was looking bleek at this moment in time. He had buried and disguised himself quite well, but he was injured, and hadn't taken the time to do any first-aid on himself. He was slowly dying. His chances were almost zero.

Katniss, currently sleeping in a tree, the camera for the TV feed zoomed in on her face currently, had quite the following in the Capitol since her flamin entrance. It was the first time in a long time that the citizens of the Capitol were paying attention to District 12, and it was also the first time in a long time since District 12 had a chance to win.

The same could be said for District 11. Thresh was there best chance to win in years. Their other tribute had made it far into the Games as well before being killed. Thresh was one of the favourites to win the GameS right after he was reaped, and he had lived up to expectations, and now with very few tributes left, there was a huge buzz about what he could possibly do.

The girl from District 5, Finch, was quite a surprise to everyone. She had not gotten a great training score, but here she was, in the final 6 tributes, with a chance to win. Citizens had gotten to know that she was very stealthy. She hadn't really been seen by any tributes at all throughout the GameS since fleeing from the bloodbath. And she was very good at living off the land, she had eaten berries and other fruits that were found in the arena as well as the career's supplies, and much to the Gamemaker's annoyance, she had successfully avoided of their poisonous berries, and various other poisonous traps. The longer she survived, the more people in the Capitol believed she could possibly win.

District 2 was where the other two remaining tributes were from. The career pack had dwindled down to two from District 2. Cato, the boy, was like Thresh, quite strong. A battle between these two as the final two, or any battle between them would be a sight to behold. Many Capitolites were hoping for a showdown between the two. Like most career tributes, Cato had volunteered. He was obviously a favourite to begin with, being from District 2, and the fact that he was basically the leader of the career pack only added to his chances to win, and here he was, only him and his District partner left in the career pack.

His District partner was Clove, who also volunteered. She had a bit of a "scuffle" over the volunteering. Many people had thought she was too young to have volunteered, and many people thought that she might have volunteered when she wasn't supposed to, and that someone older was supposed to be in her place. Her age didn't really matter however, because she quickly became a favourite with her interview and training score. Her knife throwing skills in the arena only made her more popular, because her small frame would not be a factor if she never had to get in a physical encounter. District 2 was obviously the favourite to have a winner at this point in the Games, two tributes left, both still generally healthy compared to the others.

Capitolites knew that the Gamemakers were ready to give them a great finale, and that very soon the tributes would be brought together in some exciting way.

The tributes also knew that something was eventually going to happen. They didn't know exactly what hell would be brought upon them, but it was coming, and it was going to come fast. Soon only one of them would remain. Mixed feelings. Closer to leaving, yes. But there's still 5 others out there that could still win. They could still die. Only 1 will leave.

Seneca sat there, looking at mutt designs. He had to think, what would the Capitol like better? Would they like to see mutts rip apart the two 'sinners' that he was supposed to bring to their end? Or would they prefer it if he brought tributes together, but risk the fact that the sinner could quite possibly kill their opponent, surviving. He could bring the two of them together, and get a fight out of them, possibly wounding the other, giving them less of a chance to win, and a high probability of being killed if forced into another fight.

His life, was probably on the line here. There was no thinking too carefully here. Maybe he should rest on it a day, after all, there was two days of excitement, the Capitol could wait on the edge of their seats for another day. But Snow wouldn't want to wait. It had to happen soon. It had to happen today. If it didn't, Seneca might not wake up tomorrow.

Katniss had awoken a while ago. She had just stared blankly into the trees. The Capitolites had to wonder if she had given up. Her odds quickly dropped as this rumour buzzed around. Her eventual movements let the ones who had money on her breath again, but little did they know the future plans for them.

In the wheat fields, the camera focused on what looked like just wheat, before there was a slight movement, Thresh. He had spent his entire Games in the wheat fields, hiding out, no one following him. Although he was favourite, his hiding had been quite a bore to the citizens of the Capitol. No one had gotten close to him all day.

Seneca watched this, and realized that even if he didn't have anyone die today, he'd have to make progress, at the very least. He had to get Thresh out of the wheat fields and into the rest of the arena. He looked at some mutt concepts, and settled on a simple one. A snake, but with a special type of venom. It wouldn't kill him directly… but it might get him killed. It would alter his mind.

Thresh continued to walk through the wheat fields, as he had done the whole Games. No one dared to follow him in, knowing that they'd be at a huge disadvantage. Thresh, like Katniss, had a bit of a blank stare to him. He had seen the night before his District partner's innocent face in the sky. She had died. At the hands of who, he did not know, but he assumed it was a District 2 tribute, who at this point might still be together. It didn't matter which one had done it, he would kill both of them. When he saw the District 1 boy in the sky, he had thought possibly that Rue went down fighting, but he didn't want to think about that. His survival was now what was important.

He heard a noise. Quickly he was on alert. Looking around, ready to fight whoever had just made that noise, read to kill them. He didn't see anything, though… until he felt a bite on his leg. He looked down to see an oddly coloured snake biting him. Quickly he ripped it off, only worsening, his wound. He stepped on its head, and ran, and ran, and ran out of the wheat field, and into the open.

He had nothing to treat his wound. He didn't feel any different, the urge to kill was still there… it was there… it was all that was there. What was he thinking about before? He didn't remember. All he wanted was to bring an end to the Games. He screamed and rushed off to go find whoever he could. They would die for what they had done.

Seneca chuckled to himself in relief, it had worked. The boy was now going to get himself killed. He had his mind clouded, and that would bring his end very quickly, as to win the Games, you need more than just the desire to bring death to others. You must think strategically.

…

It took a long time for Katniss to get out of her sleeping bag and down out of the tree. She had to command herself. Capitolites think she's lost her marbles. She's mentally gone. That she won't last much longer. It's almost over for her.

She managed to pack everything up, she managed to get out of the tree. It was mentally exhausting. The arena was on her shoulders. But she had to keep going. For Rue. For Prim. She needed to come home for Prim. She promised. She had gotten this far. She could not stop now. For Prim. For Rue.

Panem watches as Katniss goes through her supplies, and then begins to walk, towards the stream. She finds a pack of grooslings, shoots some of them dead. Her odds on the Capitol betting lines begin to go up again as she seemingly regains mental strength. She lights a fire she had previously set up, the betting Capitiolites now split as they watch this. Clearly she's making herself a target by doing this, it be easy to see the smoke from the fire, but she's also got her weapon with her, so she could possibly be getting the upper hand by making her opponents come to her, but with her mental state unknown at this point it could be either or.

She seems in deep thought while she cooks, so deep that she overcooks some of the bird. She wraps up the food before she begins to head once again towards the stream, still seemingly in deep thought. Her thought wouldn't last much longer though, before a sound, a lot of sound in fact, alerts her to the fact that someone is coming. She loads an arrow in her bow, and quickly looks around before she sees what's going on. It's Thresh, charging at her. She fires off an arrow, which hits him in the arm, but Thresh remains undeterred, and with all his force slams into Katniss. The Capitol waits on the edge of their seats while Thresh rises up.


	2. Chapter 2

In that moment, Katniss felt pain in every part of her body. The force of which Thresh had slammed into her had made it feel as if her skelton was trying to leave her skin. She fell to the ground, and Thresh got up. Katniss scrambled away, unsure if anything was broken in her body. Her bow was broken, however, snapping in half. The string had broken, and had actually hit her in the face, she only realized after she felt blood trickle down her face.

Thresh screamed. Loudly. It was a hellish, blood curdling sound, it almost felt like it was increasing the pain in Katniss' body. Breathing heavily, Thresh pulled the arrow out of his arm, almost like it was nothing. It would have seemed like he didn't feel any pain from it, but once again he let out a hellish scream as it began to bleed. He stared at Katniss, breathing heavily. Katniss thought that this was the end of her.

The Capitol sat at the edge of their seats, awaiting what was next, anticipating the next movie..

Thresh looked over the supplies that Katniss had dropped, and noticed something. A piece of bread. A familiar piece of bread. It was from 11. For a moment his head was clear. He was at home. But then it came back to him, he was at the Games. He was in them. He needed to win before he even thought of home.

Thresh reached down, grabbing both Katniss and the bread. He held her by the shoulder with one hand, tightly gripped. If he wanted to, he could probably shatter it right now. He held the bread in her face.

"This. Where the fuck." He was breathing so heavily it was hard for him to speak. "Where the fuck did you get this?" He stared at Katniss. Katniss was looking death in the eyes.

Katniss realized she had to answer before he killed her.

"A-a sponsor." She told the truth. It was. "After… after Rue was killed… I was with her, allied… but the boy from District 1 got to her. He killed her… I killed him… I was too late…" Katniss didn't know what to say next, if she even could say anything.

Thresh screamed again, and then actually screamed words. "Fucking privileged assholes!" He shoved Katniss down, staring her in the eyes once again. "I'll fucking kill them all!" He said. He stormed off, leaving Katniss, but not before saying "Just this once I leave you. For the girl. But I will be back." Thresh disappeared in the decreasing daylight.

Katniss sat there terrified. What had just happened. The Capitol sat there in awe. Seneca sat there in horror. Katniss was supposed to die in that moment… or Thresh in the moment before. Whatever was supposed to happen… it was not that.

As the adrenalin left Katniss, she felt the pain. She didn't bother to climb a tree. It would hurt too much, and she knew she would hurt more in the morning. She just lay down. Nothing was broken but her bow. She could fix it… right? She drifted off to sleep while trying to plan on how to fix it.

When she awoke, there was pain everywhere in her body. Her bones ached. Her head hurt, surely she had a concussion. She knew her body was bruised, probably badly too. She got up, slowly, painfully. She slowly got her supplies together. The grooslings she had cooked were crushed at some point during that encounter with Thresh. She ate some anyway. She couldn't waste them. That encounter with Thresh. She replayed it over and over again in her mind. Did that really happen? It did. It would have been on camera too… Prim would have seen that… at least part of it, if she hadn't turned herself away during that moment. She had to wonder what was going on in Thresh's mind, letting her live. Going off to find the careers. Had he gone mad? Did he see the bread and have a moment of clarity? The bread. Was it still here? Katniss looked around her supplies, still there. She ate the rest of it. How different that encounter would have gone had she ate the whole thing before…

The ever fluctuating odds in the Capitol, for Katniss they were going down. Without her bow, she wasn't as much as a threat anymore. She examined it. It was more broken than she thought it was. It had snapped in half, and was cracked in multiple places. The string was snapped too, covered in dried blood. Her blood. From a cut on her face. It came back to her. Yes, the string had snapped, and hit her in the face. Her face was covered with dried blood. She had an open wound on her face. She needed to clean it. She stood on two feet, walking towards the stream, slowly. So much pain, just to do something so simple. Agonizing. She reached the stream, and slowly got herself down on her knees, and splashed her face, wetted her hands scrubbed the dried blood off her face. She cleaned out her wound with the stream. It obviously hurt, but so did everywhere else on her body.

She limped back to her supplies. She thought about what possibly she could do next. She had knives from the District 1 boy. He had a first-aid kit to, she remembered, she could use that on herself, to repair herself as much as possible. The knives would be her only weapon now. Would be. If it weren't for the fact that her supplies had been taken.

Everything was gone. How long was she at the stream? Couldn't have been more than 5 minutes. Someone had been watching her this whole time. They had to have been. There couldn't have been anyone who just happened to wander by, they would have gone looking for her. Someone had been stalking her, waiting for the right moment, not to kill her, but to take her supplies. It could not have been a District 2 tribute, they would have come to find her and kill her. It couldn't have been Thresh, he said, screamed, that he was going to hunt down the District 2 tributes. Peeta… he was injured, he wouldn't be quick enough to take everything and run off. It could only have been the foxfaced girl from 5.

All that was left was the broken bow, and the bloody arrow that Thresh had pulled from himself. Katniss leaned over to pick up the broken bow, stopping for a moment. There was a single strand of hair on it. She picked up the hair. Long. and red. That confirmed it. She had been robbed by the foxfaced girl from 5.

Seneca Crane cheered in his head. A tribute he had been instructed to kill had all her supplies taken. Bless this tribute, the girl from 5. As a Gamemaker, he wasn't supposed to be biased towards a tribute, only against them had they done something wrong, but he felt now that he owed the girl from 5 something. He almost wanted her to win now. He certainly would go easier on her in the next few days as the conclusion of the Games grew closer.

Finch had watched the girl from 12 for a while now. The fire she had lit had attracted her attention. She watched from afar, waiting, hoping maybe she'd leave some scraps behind for her to eat. Then she had watched the boy from 11 slam into her. Finch covered her eyes. She had avoided seeing death so far, and she would avoid it for as long as possible. But there was no death. There was talk of… an alliance. Not between them, but between the girl from 11 and the girl from 12. And the boy from 11 left. "For the girl" he said. Alliances. How stupid. Such a high chance of being back stabbed. You make yourself a bigger target. You can't travel as fast. And if you both somehow manage to survive, then in the end you have to fight the person you've been allied with. One of you has to die.

The girl from 12 eventually fell asleep, or passed out from pain, Finch wasn't sure which, right on top of her supplies. Finch took a quick nap, waking up before the girl from 12. Sleep had been hard to come by while in the arena, most of her sleep had been short and interrupted by odd noises, more than likely created by the Gamemakers to spice things up a little bit, throw her off a bit, but it didn't work. She stayed sharp even through this little sleep deprivation.

Again, Finch watched the girl from 12. She watched her sleep. She watched her get up. She watched her eat, while she had stomach pain. It had been… 3 days? 3 days now since she ate something decent, other than small berries around the arena, which she had noticed were getting increasingly smaller, and fewer patches throughout the arena. Meals had been few and far between for her, and small at best. She had lost quite a bit of weight over the last 11 days they had been in the arena.

Slowly the girl from 12 got up, after seemingly being lost in thought, and slowly walked towards the stream. Finch was puzzled, unsure of why. Even more stupidly, the girl from 12 had left her supplies there. Unguarded. When she was out of sight, Finch quickly got up and grabbed the remainder of the food, and the pack the girl from 12 had left. She picked up the bow, but realized it was destroyed, there was no use for it, and put it back down. She looked around quickly, realizing there was something under a pile of leaves and rocks that clearly had been distrubed. Knives, and spearheads. Weapons, she could possibly get a use out of those in the end. She quickly shoved them into the pack and ran off, she quietly slipped back into the forest, and then quickly ran, away from the girl from 12. The girl from 12 was in no condition to chase her, but she needed to move, or else risk death by staying in one spot for too long, which the girl from 12 was. Someone would find her eventually, whether it be the Gamemaker's mutts, or another tribute… the boy from 11 did say he would be coming back, after all.

Finch felt she had traveled sufficiently far enough, not just from the girl from 12, but everyone else, too. She had been keeping a map in her head of the arena, and where she last saw each remaining tribute, and how far they possibly had gone. She set down the pack, and began to look through it. There was more food than whatever meat had been wrapped up and crushed. There were more berries, and roots, obviously edible or there would be no point in having them. There were the knives the girl from 12 had hid, possibly belonging to one of the careers, along with the spearheads. She suspected that the knives and spearheads had belonged to the boy from 1, who had been killed by the girl from 12, as Finch had heard from the conversation. A flashlight, not particularly useful unless you want to bring attention to yourself. Two bottles , 1 filled with water. Finch immediately took a drink, she hadn't had much water in the last few days, small amounts from trees, plants and berries. Among the food was also a pack of dried fruits. Finch opened it and half of them, it had been a while since she had anything other than berries, there wasn't much else growing in the arena. There was a water purifier too, that would be very useful.

The last thing in the pack was night vision goggles. Surprising. And, amazing, she was now on level terms with the two from two, at least when it came to the night. Finch laughed. Randomly, out of nowhere. She had felt the need to laugh at every little thing that had happened in the arena. The fire, the explosion, now this. Was it out of happiness? Or was she losing her mind? The very thought of having to question it made her think it was the latter. But at least the rest of her mind was still sharp. She ate a little bit of the crushed mystery meat, too. Obviously it was something from the arena, killed and cooked, a bit burnt actually. That didn't really matter, food is food. Food is food, and Finch had to make it last, so she didn't feast.

Wandering aimlessly. That's what Cato and Clove had been doing. A mental red haze had been impairing them, they wanted justice. To bring death for whoever had blown up the supplies. They didn't know who had blown it up, but that wouldn't matter, they'd find out when the Games were over. Well, one of them would, only one of them could win. Both of them thought it would be them, they knew exactly what the other's weaknesses were. But first there was hell to be paid. Everyone else had to die first… although it was still possible for someone else to kill the other. But first they had to find someone, and they hadn't. They hadn't seen anyone for a few days now, other than each other. Thresh must be still deep in his wheat field, but he'll be out eventually. Maybe he even left when he saw his district partner in the sky?

Late in the day, the sun beginning to go. Clove sat down with a childish huff.

"We're not going to find anyone today." She says.

"We're not going to find anyone if we just sit here" Cato replies.

"We're not going to find anyone if I pass out from exhaustion." Clove snaps back.

"Hey, if that happens, I can kill you if you want." Cato says. Clove glares angrily. "Hey, I tease you because I love you" The words 'I love you' had a teasingly sarcastic tone to them. Cato and Clove had been going back and forth about how much they loved each other, as a joke, as an insult to the lovers of district 12. But it was clear that they were not in love, Cato had taken a liking to Glimmer. Her death angered Cato, and it was at the hands of the girl from 12. The tracker jackers. Clove still had nightmares when she slept, the horrors of what was induced by the venom coming back every night. She wondered, did Cato have them too? Glimmer and Marina… what was their brief moments like? These thoughts, why did she have them? Wondering about the torture of others… they were her friends… well, as much as you can be friends when you're supposed to be fighting them to the death.

The lovers would be good as dead if Cato found them. It was surprising that the boy had not died yet, according to Cato he cut him pretty good. At this point, he's probably in a coma, death will come for him eventually.

Clove couldn't help but smile at Cato's mention of 'love'. But she wasn't really sure if the smile was because it was funny.. Or because she had actually fallen in love with him. All this teasing… was it for real? While she was hallucinating, she had various 'dreams' of Cato dying, more than she had seen other careers die. When she finally came to, she hugged him, glad to see him alive. Glimmer and Marina had died. The boy from three had also been stung… he joined them after he said he could re-activate the mines. That went well. Almost everything was fucking gone. Marvel had died chasing down someone, Clove assumed it was the girl from 11. Someone killed him, obviously, it had to be either the boy from 11 or the girl from 12. The girl from 5 couldn't possibly have anything to kill anyone with. She didn't look like a killer either. And a training score of 5… it was amazing she was alive still. But she'd starve eventually, if they didn't find her first.

Eventually, Clove fell asleep, cuddled against Cato, who stayed awake on defense. Again, the nightmares began. Expecting death to come to you, over and over again. Death coming to your loved ones. To your friends, family. It feels so real, the knives digging into your body. Drowning, over and over again, in a lake, in the ocean, in your own blood. The stings, over and over. Feeling yourself get ripped apart. You wouldn't have known how any of this feels. But somehow, the venom makes you know. Clove did not want to die, she already felt it. She did not want Cato to die either. But one of them had to.

"Katniss" Peeta called out.

"Katniss" Peeta called out.

"Katniss" Peeta called out. Except he didn't. His lips didn't move. He couldn't move them. Or could he? He wasn't entirely sure. He was too weak. He didn't know if it was only his brain calling out to her or if the words were actually coming out of his mouth. He couldn't get up, get out. He had buried himself, camouflaged himself. Camouflaged himself too well. He had heard another tribute. They didn't find him. He wasn't sure how long ago it was, he had been drifting in and out of consciousness. He wished he hadn't buried and hid himself so well. Someone would have surely killed him if they could see him, taking him out of his misery. Death was coming fast though. It had to be. He could hardly think. It hurt. His leg hurt. Where he had been stung hurt. The stings. The last vivid memories he had were the stings, and the nightmares that came after. The cut. That was real, he had seen it, felt it for real, saw it with his own eyes. But he had seen more, shiny, it wasn't real, was it? Countless times he saw the careers come down on him, and attempt to kill him. Bread and cake eating him. Katniss dying before his eyes. Katniss. She was still alive, wasn't she? He had told her to run, he remembered, but he had remembered her dying. Many times… but those memories, they were all shiny. He was killed by the careers multiple times too, as far as he remembers, and it felt so real. Did any of them survive? Peeta wasn't even sure anymore, who was left. As long as Katniss was okay, he was happy. She could still win. She could make it home alive. If only she'd find him. Just for a kiss.

The nightmares, that still come, maybe. This could still all be hallucinations. And he'd wake up to find that he'd just been under some leaves, too weak to get up perfectly fine.

No. He slipped away. He'd never wake up.


	3. Chapter 3

Boom.

Clove was startled awake. Cato jumped to, clearly having fallen asleep while he was supposed to be on guard. It was early in the morning. Both of them stood up, in preparation to fight. They stood ready, waiting for someone to come crashing into view.

But nothing came.

"A cannon" Clove said, dropping her guard. "Someone died." Oh great, now there's even less of a chance for us to find someone, she thought.

But the gamemakers wouldn't allow everyone to stay so far from each other for long now.

In the distance, they saw a hovercraft appear and grab from the ground… a lot of ground. Obviously there was a body in there, but how did it get in the ground? Did someone dig there own grave?

"We should go check that out." Cato said. Clove shrugged, and they both headed off in the direction. Why not, maybe someone else will be there.

Boom.

Staring into the darkness, lost, the sound of the cannon brought Katniss back to reality. Someone had just died.

"Peeta." Katniss weakly called out. Peeta. It had to be Peeta. She started crying. The last person she saw from home was now dead. The last reminder of home was gone. His death made her realize, she was going to die too

The Capitol would think she's crying for Peeta because of love. But did she ever make it obvious that she loved him back? She couldn't remember now. Her mind refused. She had lost control. She wanted to end it all right now, but she couldn't. She had nothing. Everything was taken, except for a broken bow, which sit beside her. The sound of a hovercraft interrupted her thoughts. It was so close. Was Peeta actually that close, just downstream? Could she have possibly saved him? Was there someone near, coming to kill her next?

Katniss curled up in a ball, and cried herself to sleep, awaiting someone to bring her death. The arena had broken her.

For the first time since the Games had began, Finch had gotten a good sleep. She had secured herself up in a tree, in the sleeping bag. It was warm. For the first time in nights she had a warm place to sleep, as the arena got colder and colder every night, although it was unlikely that the gamemakers would let anyone freeze to death, as there was a Games in the recent past which took place in a frozen wasteland, most tributes died of frostbite, which must have severely bored the Capitol, because the next year there was a new head gamemaker.

In the morning, still half asleep, a cannon woke her mind up completely. She thought for a second that the gamemakers were shaking her awake again. But no, someone had died. Just one more person she had outlived, one less person that she may have to fight in the end. She would avoid it if possible. But still, the Games, they had changed her. She was anticipating each death. Hoping for them. Finch was disgusted with herself. In the distance, a hovercraft picked up the ground. She was confused for a moment, before realizing who it was. The boy from 12. She had watched him in training. She watched everyone. He painted himself, very good at it. He had camouflaged himself into the ground. And only now did he die, probably of starvation. He must have been there awhile.

His details didn't really matter thought, he was a face without a name. Everyone tribute was. They were just numbers and genders that she had to keep mental notes on, and slowly the number of mental notes had gone. 5 left. Finch wondered to herself if she could actually win. The longer the Games went on, the higher the chances got… and the more she thought she might have the confidence to actually kill someone.

Thresh had wandered far into the arena. He wasn't keeping track of where he was going. He was lost. He couldn't remember if he had slept or not. Not that it really mattered, all that mattered at this point was death. Avenging Rue. A cannon went off, and in the distance, a hovercraft. Thresh paid no attention to the body that had been lifted. This late in the Games, it must have been someone killed. And a killer would be nearby. Thresh began to run towards the hovercraft, hoping to find someone to end.

Seneca watched in amusement as the tributes began to get closer to each other. He wouldn't need a feast yet, maybe he wouldn't need any feast at all. Of course, he would have to wait to see what happens here, if any tributes end up dying, he couldn't put all his eggs in one basket. There was a plan for a feast in place, but that would have to be changed on the fly. But if you couldn't change things on the fly, you weren't a good gamemaker.

There was a big hole in the ground, the hovercraft clearly had to dig someone up from the ground.

"I wonder if it was lover boy" Clove said.

Cato chuckles "You think he dug himself is own grave?"

"It would explain why we haven't seen him at all." Clove replied. "And how he lived so long."

Cato nods his head in a way as if to say that's a fair assumption

"So that means I didn't fucking kill him." Cato. Completely focused on what's important.

Clove lets him have this frustration vent. She knew better than to tell him that there are better things to be focused on.

Cato yells at the sky in anger.

Thresh hears yelling as he approaches the general area where he had seen the hovercraft.

Cato continues to act like a frustrated child.

Katniss awoke to shouting. She opened her eyes, they took a moment to adjust. No, they didn't, there was a sponsor parachute in front of her. Quickly she uncovered it. It was string, a bottle of… something. She squeezed some out onto her finger, and smelt it. Glue, it was glue. And not glue that would be found in District 12, it was capitol grade glue. For her bow.

She wiped what was on her finger off on the ground, and quickly went about gluing the bow back together.

Cato had finally calmed down a bit, and Clove went in for a hug, to help. Surprisingly, even to himself, he accepts the hug, but it ends as just as quickly as it began.

Again, they look around the hole in the ground.

"There's no supplies anywhere, so I guess he didn't have any." Clove says.

Suddenly, Thresh comes into Clove's view.

"Cato, watch out!" Clove points towards Thresh, and Cato turns around, just in time to be tackled facing forward, a sickening crack is heard as Thresh dives and collides with Cato's legs, and a sickening scream follows.

Cato and Thresh collide on the ground, in the process knocking over Clove as well. Clove quickly rolls herself away from the area.

Cato, adrenaline rushing, sword still in hand, attempts to do something about Thresh. But before he can even use a split second to swing it, Thresh slams his wrist down. Continuously. Cato, in his attempt to wrestle away from Thresh bends his hand awkwardly, and Thresh slams it down, breaking his fingers and several tendons. Cato screams again. Thresh punches him in the face.

Clove, in a panic, fumbles around with her knives. Her heart racing, she can hardly use her fingers at the moment. Another blood curdling scream causes Clove to focus. Adrenaline. Knife in hand. Clove tells herself to focus. She takes aim. She tells herself to keep focusing. Ignore everything but the target. Missing could mean death. Not just Cato's. But hers. Thresh could easily get up right now and take her down.

Clove throws the knife, which collides with Thresh's skull. It penetrates, but not all the way. It's enough to distract Thresh, Cato lands a punch with his good hand. It's enough to shove him off. Or maybe it wasn't. Thresh was already going to get up anyways. Headed straight for where the knife came from. Right towards Clove.

Thresh had completely forgotten Clove was there. He heard her say "Watch out" And that was it. While he was beating Cato, he just completely forgot Clove was standing there. It came back to him once the knife hit his skull.

Something else came back to him too. Why was he here? He was angry. He remembered that. At who? The Careers. The fucking privileged assholes. Yeah, them. That's why he was here. To kill them. He saw another tribute. 12. The girl. She was allied with Rue. He left her alone. She deserved to live longer. When he found her he'd make it quick.

He'd make her death quick. Why did he want her to die? Because that's how you win the Games. Everyone else but you has to die. But why did he feel the need to kill everyone. What was he doing before he saw her? Traveling towards… something. Before that he was in the fields. Why did he leave? He was at home in there. A snake. That's right. A snake bit him. Then he felt angry. He wanted to kill. He did not want to kill as much as he did now before that. Only for survival. The snake had changed him somehow. It made him into a killing machine. The gamemakers had changed him. The Capitol had changed him. And he was only coming to his senses now. When it was too late. He had already put a beat down on the 2 boy. He deserved it though. The Careers all deserved it.

All of his thoughts were gone once he collided with Clove. He only felt the pain. She had stabbed him again. In the stomach. They went down. They hit the ground. The knife pushed deeper inside of him. He screamed, this time not in rage, but in pain.

He knew he was done for. He all but dead. He got up from the ground. He was bleeding, but the knife had solidly stuck itself inside him. He wasn't bleeding badly yet. But if he pulled it out, he was quickly going to die. The girl sat on the ground, heaving. Did he get her? Did she take her own knife somewhere? Did she hit her head on the ground?

Thresh didn't care. Not anymore. He just wanted to go back to the wheat fields of the arena. The closest place to home. He wanted to die there. He wanted to die as close to home as possible. He ran for it. Before the girl could get up. He was pretty sure he broke the boys legs.

He ran as fast as he could. He held the knife in place. The only thing stopping him from bleeding out quicker. The knife was still in his head too. Maybe it was the only thing giving him the slight sense of sanity he still had.

He reached it. He ran into it. Deeper into it.

It wasn't much. Wheat wasn't a common crop in District 11. It was another district who took care of that. One already long dead in these Games, or he'd probably have company.

He stopped running. He stood. Caught his breath. Maybe she would follow him here. He'd have an advantage. He pushed away the thoughts of killing someone. But they kept pushing back. He considered pushing the knife deeper into his skull. But he wouldn't have to.

It took Clove a minute to be able to take proper breaths. The fall had knocked the wind out of her. She thought she was dead for sure. But then he ran. The boy from 11 ran. Away. Not towards her. Not to crush in her head, or break her legs like he had surely done with Cato. He ran away. A coward.

She was lucky that no one else was in the area. She sat up. A little dizzy. She took breaths, hoping for it to pass.

"Clove?" A voice said weakly. It was Cato's.

"Cato!" Clove said. She quickly crawled over to him. She was kneeling over him. His legs lie awkwardly. One hand bent, a mangled mess.

"I'm fucked." He said. "Fucked!" He screamed.

"No, don't say that." Clove said. "Let me help you." She helped him up. He loudly cursed from the pain. He wasn't going to get on his feet.

"Fuck." Clove said. Cato was swearing too loudly to hear this. Cato was right. He was fucked. But Clove didn't want him to die. Her feelings were increasingly confusing to her. She still wasn't sure if she actually loved him. But as the Games went on, she was leaning more towards the thought that she actually did love him.

Or maybe it was a case of Alina's Ailment. Alina was a tribute from 5 who was in a Games that took place in an old city. It turned out that one of the city's generators still worked. The Careers quickly found her. They let her live as long as she kept the place running. She did, but that's all they let her do. She fell in love with the boy from 1, someone who was keeping her a slave. He was killed by his own alliance once their affair began to get in the way of their goals, but not without a fight. He killed one, and injured the other 4 before they took him down. They went back to the generator. They taunted Alina and she went off. She killed all 4 of them. She blew up the generator. She killed 3 of the 5 remaining tributes, the other two taking care of each other after going to investigate the explosion, where a bloody battle ensued and both were mortally wounded. 7 kills. 7 kills from a non-career district is unheard of. The Capitol has been hoping for another case ever since then.

It must have taken Clove 20 minutes to get Cato over to a tree and sitting up. All with grunts, groans and swearing in pain from Cato. He couldn't move his legs without a terrible pain. Broken, no doubt. His hand too.

Cato wanted to die. But he dare not say anything. He didn't want to die by suicide. That would be dishonorable. And he felt there was still a chance he could win. He'd have to let Clove kill everyone else off, but then when she came for him, he could use his sword to kill her, to deflect her knives. Until she had to come close to him, and then he could strike. A sword has a longer range than a knife. He could bare the pain if it meant winning.

Of course, all of this relied on Clove. The small 15 year old who volunteered for the Games before she was supposed to. She had at least 2 years of training ahead of her, then she would need to be approved by the "peacekeepers" academy as a valid volunteer. But no. She wanted it now. Ambition was good to have when you're in the academy, but not this much.

"I'm going to go kill that fucker." Clove said. Cato didn't protest. He saw the boy from 11 run by. He was injured badly. There was a knife sticking out of his head. He was surprised he wasn't already dead.

It was not a short walk to the fields. And once Clove got there, a mental aspect came into play. Did she really want to go into the unknown to chase this guy? She got closer. She could see that there was a path. Most likely made in anger by the boy from 11 tearing through it. It was getting dark. The trek had exhausted her. She decided to go to sleep. She had no sleeping bag. Everything was gone. From that fucking explosion. That idiot from 3 had managed to blow everything up. He was quick work for Cato. Dead in seconds. Clove hid herself in the wheat. Not too deep, though, she wanted to get out quickly if she needed to. She slept with knife in hand, ready to throw, or to stab.

Cato sat there in the darkening forest. It was getting cold. Like it had every night. But this time he didn't have Clove for warmth. The only thing he had was his sword and some food. He drifted off to sleep a few times, awoken by pain. He could only hope that Clove would come back with three kills, and then the final showdown was on.

Finch had watched it all from the shadows. The boy from 11 slamming into both the tributes from 2, badly injuring one, harming the other. And then running off. She thought she had been caught several times. But she wasn't. Once she was alone with only the boy from 2 there, she quietly retreated to eat. But here she was again. Looking at the tree, and the silhouette of the boy from 2. He was obviously favouring one hand. He didn't sleep much. He was injured too badly to sleep for too long without causing himself pain. Especially in that position.

She held the stolen knife in hand. She could kill him, right now. Go up behind the tree and slit his throat from behind. But she couldn't bring herself to do it. Not yet at least. She was all too familiar with the story of Alina. She didn't want to trigger that in the girl from 2. He was as good as dead anyways, with that many bones broken. Finch retreated back into the shadows.


	4. Chapter 4

Clove rolled out of the fields, terrified.

She looked up to see the sun coming up. And that was it. It wasn't real. There was no large figure standing over her, ready to crush her skull with a rock. That was all a dream. Still, it was pretty stupid to sleep in these fields. She took a minute, letting her heart rate get back to normal, or as normal as it can be nearing the end of the Games.

She wondered if this is how her mentor, Stephanus, felt. Was he terrified, or had his training kept him calm all the way through? Clove wasn't sure what the last years of the academy's training were supposed to be. They never told you anything, to keep you on your toes. You didn't even know how many years you had left, graduations occur anywhere between the ages of 16 - 18. Clove had no idea when she was going to graduate, and her parents expected her to graduate and be picked for the Games. She couldn't take another year of it, the pressure, the expectations, so she volunteered. She had a scuffle with the girl who was supposed to volunteer, the one chosen by the Victors of 2 to volunteer. Right in front of the stage, so the cameras got a good glimpse of it. It was good for the odds.

She might never find out about the graduations, how things work internally, whether that be because they don't let her teach because of her blatant disregard for the system, or through her death. She quickly shoved the thought of death away. She was going to win.

The thought was only gone for a moment though. She felt pain. She looked down and realized she had cut her left arm rolling over. Quickly she felt relief as she realized she hadn't cut herself too deep. She wiped the blood away. She had more pressing matters than a little blood. The boy from 11 was somewhere in there.

"Come out from there and fight me with pride!" She screamed into the field, she called out to him. "11, you're going to die just like the pathetic girl from your district!

It was as if suddenly, the air carried sound better than it usually did. Thresh heard the taunting from a distance. He had collapsed in exhaustion. He was hoping it was from blood loss. That he would die peacefully surrounded by the wheat.

But no, he wouldn't get that. He heard the taunts. He felt all the rage he had tried to suppress before, all of that suppression for nothing. He mentally could not keep it away. He had to avenge Rue. He should have done it right there. When he had the chance. He ran towards the voice taunting him.

Clove listened for the rustle of the wheat. She backed up a bit, she needed to see him coming. The rustling got louder. She had a knife ready.

Thresh burst through the wheat, out into the open area around the cornucopia. The only thing he wanted was to avenge Rue, then he could die happy. He ripped the knife previously embedded in him out. It ripped a bloody hole in his head. He whipped the bloody red knife at Clove. But he had no skill in knife throwing. It hit her the wrong way. It was a distraction enough to prevent her from throwing only for a moment. The thrown knife still went straight into Thresh's neck.

Instinct takes over, Thresh grabs at his neck. He pulls the knife out, only causing him to bleed quicker. His last thoughts are remembering how someone died in District 11 like this, a pitch fork through the neck. They lived long enough to scream for their family, wanting one last goodbye. Thresh didn't want that. He wanted to die quickly. He died regretting that he was never able to avenge Rue. He hoped the girl from 12 would carry on his intentions.

Clove watched the boy from 11 pull out the knife, only making him die quicker. Clove was hoping to have some fun, to maybe have him on the ground, get a little bit of practice in before the final show. The girl from 5 and the girl from 12 would be a lot harder targets to hit compared to the giant boy from 11 here. It was too bad he didn't want to join their alliance. Maybe then he would have been able to protect his pathetic district partner, and she would have the honor of dying to starvation rather than at the hands of one of them.

She pulled the knives out of the dead body. Not that she needed them all. She only needed two, really. One for 5, one for 12. Then she thought about Cato. She had no idea how Cato would die. Would he take himself, making sure that he died by his own terms, rather than someone else? Or would he ask her to kill him herself, for district honor and for pride? And the thought of him betraying her, slashing her throat in her sleep. She would sleep far away from him tonight. Out of range.

Cato heard the cannon go off. Clove was gone all night. He hadn't slept much, in a great deal of pain. He might have slept better if she was here. He was almost completely defenseless. If someone came up from behind, he was done, and he'd be at a severe disadvantage even if he could see them..

The cannon had him worried that Clove was dead. And now the boy from 11 was coming back to kill him. He worried for a long time. It felt like days, the pain in his legs and his hand making every heartbeat seemingly painful.

He was massively relieved when he saw Clove coming back. He'll live for now.

"You kill him?" Cato asked.

"Yeah, I killed him." Clove said. "All I had to do was insult him and he came right out. These poor districts, they claim to have no pride for their district, but once you insult them, it all comes out."

Cato smirked, then winced as his leg twitched, giving him more pain. Clove didn't notice as she was sitting down, or maybe she didn't care. She sat quite far from him, definitely out of reach of his sword. Had Clove maybe read him, and figured out what his only plan to win could be?. She only ever came close to him to grab a little bit of food from their small, and further dwindling food supply.

The night was cold, again, but Clove thought the risk of getting close to Cato was too high at this point in the Games. Like the night before, there was a projection in the sky.

Katniss looked up to the sky and saw his projection in the sky. He was dead too. She felt sadness build up in her, like she had felt when she saw Peeta in the sky. But, maybe a bit of relief too, another tribute she would not have to kill. Four left. Both 2s, and the foxfaced girl from 5. The 2s had to have broken up at this point in the Games. The careers always did break up near the end, but usually it was a violent break up. This time it was seemingly peaceful, unless one or both of them were badly wounded at the moment, slowly dying. Katniss quickly put those thoughts away. The Games were not easy. She had been hunting all day, and it was rather unsuccessful. At this point, most of what was left was either very small and hardly edible, or berries, and a lot of the berries were Nightlock. Inedible, of course. Katniss was hoping that maybe the other 3 didn't know that, and they'd die in desperation. She again shoved the thoughts of killing and death away. The Games had really changed her thinking. Maybe she didn't want to win. Maybe she should pick some Nightlocks just incase.

Finch thought about the remaining tributes. Knives, Sword, Bow. Broken Bow. The girl from 12 was out of the question. She was probably starving right now. The boy from 12 died, picked out from the ground, and the boy from 11 had died, from the hands of the girl from 2, she had assumed. The boy from 2 was in no condition to be killing anyone.

Finch put on the night vision goggles. She went towards the tributes from two, who Finch was almost certain were sleeping. The girl from 2 probably thought she had it won, with her district partner injured, and the other two tributes being small weaklings. The careers never thought about the mental part of the game. The careers never saw anyone as a threat except themselves. That's how they got caught off guard when Alina freaked out and killed them all. Finch needed a spark. She stole food again. This time, all of it. But she still couldn't bring herself to kill. Even being in the last four, she still couldn't do it. She lingered around, thinking about it. She needed to do it, but she just couldn't. She went back into the forest, back into her hiding place. This might just get her killed. She ate the food, most of it. They were nearing the end.

The morning light woke Clove up. Several times throughout the night, she had been awoken by the moans of pain from Cato. Eventually he must have passed out, because she was no longer awoken by his moans. She looked at him sleeping there, his sword beside him on the ground. And that was it. All the food was gone.

"Cato!" Clove shouted.

Cato startled awake. And then he screamed in pain as he tried to move his legs.

"Where is all the food?" Clove demanded. Cato was still in pain, almost blinded and deafened by it. He looked around.

"Someone stole it, because I didn't eat it." Cato said, gritting his teeth. "I can't fucking move."

Clove kicked his sword away from him. "You were supposed to guard it!" Clove said. He didn't eat it. That would be dishonorable.

"I need that." Cato said.

"For what? Defending the food?" Clove said. "It's fucking gone!"

Cato didn't say anything. He could see the crazy in Clove's eyes. The crazy he saw when she came up to volunteer. The crazy he saw when she went to show the gamemakers what she could do. The crazy he had seen after the bloodbath. The crazy he saw after the tracker jackers. The crazy that might just win her the Games.

Clove eventually spoke. "The girl from 5 must have done it. A thief. A dishonorable thief! That's how she survived this long."

There were no words exchanged. Clove went off to find the girl from 5.

A singular arrow was all the Katniss had, and she wasn't sure if this arrow would work well. It had penetrated Thresh. She had washed it, and it looked like it wasn't broken, but she couldn't be sure until she shot it.

There was some noise, which sounded like yelling, close by. Or maybe it was far away. It was hard to tell, the sound in the arena had been a bit different recently. It made hunting harder, because the animals sounded bigger and closer than they actually were. Probably another Gamemaker trick, and this was a new one.

And thinking of Gamemakers, Katniss headed towards the noises. She knew if she headed away from them, she'd be pushed in the other direction by them.

Seneca watched as Katniss got closer to Cato, and Clove got further from them. "Make sure the girl from 2 doesn't get too far away." He says.

"On it" one of the Gamemakers replies.

Clove hears a rumble, and then a snap. She stops. Then several snaps. Trees begin to fall in front of her. She tries to go to her right, but trees are falling there too. And to her left as well. She starts running back towards where she had come from. Obviously the Gamemakers didn't want her to go that far. She smirked. The end was near.

Finch watched the girl from two flee the rumblings, and stop right in front of the tree she was in. She held her breath, she hoped the bag was hidden enough, and she hoped nothing would fall out.

Then she heard a scream. "Clove!"

And the girl from 2 ran again.

Katniss saw what the noises were. The boy from 2 was there, legs broken. She wondered if the girl from 2 had done this. She couldn't have, she was too small, and the boy was too big.

She walked out in front of him. He couldn't reach his sword. He couldn't do anything.

Cato looked up. The girl from 12. "Ah, there's the other half of the star crossed lovers." He said. "Lover boy is dead!" He taunted her.

Katniss readied her bow.

"I'm surprised you haven't killed yourself, your boyfriend's dead!" He taunted further

She took aim.

"Only one arrow? That girl from 5 steal shit from you too?" Cato said.

Silence.

"I bet you don't have the courage to kill me." he said.

The arrow left the bow. It wasn't a lethal hit. Straight into his abdomen. If he was left there, he would die eventually, but eventually wasn't an option this late into the Games.

"Clove!" Cato screamed. He bent over in pain. Katniss tried to hold him up and get the arrow out of him. "I fucking knew it." He said to Katniss. She ripped it out, causing the wound to grow, Cato screamed out again. Katniss ran as fast as she could away from there.

"Cato!" Clove called back. She rounded and saw Cato hunched over, and bleeding

"She fucking shot me. She fucking missed. She's a coward!" Cato said through the pain.

"12 or 5?" Clove asked.

"12. She ran." Cato said. He pointed to the direction she ran in.

Clove looked in that direction, and was ready to go, but Cato spoke.

"One more thing." he said.

"Yeah?" Clove said.

"I want someone with honor to kill me. Clove, please." Cato said.

Clove hesitated, but she did it. She slit Cato's throat. As deep as she could, bleeding him out quickly. She didn't even watch the life drain out of his eyes. She ran after the girl from 12 as the cannon went off.

Clove was faster, and stronger. She caught up to the girl from 12. She threw a knife, and as expected, she was accurate. She aimed for the left leg. The girl from 12 fell as soon as she felt the knife. She tumbled. Clove was on top of her quickly.

The girl from 2 had Katniss pinned down. Despite being slightly shorter, Clove was stronger, and much better fed even after days in the arena. They struggled a bit. Katniss got a hand free, but that was a mistake, a knife soon went straight through it. She screamed, but she was punched in the face almost as soon as she did.

"Who are you screaming for?" Clove asked. "Lover boy is dead!"

A flash of anger went through Katniss. It was no use, she was only rewarded with her other hand getting stabbed.

"You have no honor, and you're a coward." Clove said. Katniss spit in her face. The careers were always on about honor. There was no honor in the Hunger Games.

"Fuck you too." Clove said. "Since Lover boy is dead, should I remove those lips from your face? You're not going to need them anymore." Clove traced the knife around her lips, and then dug in, getting more screams from the girl from 12. Clove did it slowly, savoring the feeling of cutting through flesh. Blood from the cut went into the girl from 12's mouth. She spit into Clove's face. Clove just kept working through it, working on the bottom lip now, more blood, now down the chin of the girl from 12.

"Can't spit so well now, huh?" Clove asked. Clove just watched the girl from 12 struggle for a bit, prolonging her life, even though she wanted to be dead. She wasn't going to let her just have a quick death, she had to pay for the tracker jackers.

"I wanna watch you bleed." Clove nicked the girl from 12's neck. Blood tried to rush out of the small hole. Clove poked another hole, and more blood came out. "Just like being stung by a tracker jacker, huh?" She could pretty much see the other girl's heartbeat at this point.

There was fear in the eyes of the girl from 12. Then there was nothing, then the cannon boom rang out.

Clove stood up, and turned around. The girl from 5 was standing right there.

Clove yelled something incoherent as she threw the knife and it penetrated her throat.

Even before the knife hit her throat she knew that. She couldn't do it. She just couldn't do it.

The cannon went off. The trumpets blare. The cheers broadcast over the speakers. Clove couldn't really hear it, but she knew that Templesmith was announcing her as the winner.


	5. Chapter 5

The hovercraft materializes overhead and a singular ladder drops. Clove takes one look at the bodies left and grabs onto the ladder, which freezes her in place. She's lifted up into the hovercraft. Someone hands her a glass of orange juice. She throws the ridiculous looking straw away and takes a sip. She recoils when the liquid appears to change colour around her lips, and then realizes it's blood from the girl from 12 spat on to her face, not entirely dry, coming off.

She moves the glass away and catches a glimpse of her reflection. Face significantly less fuller than it was before the games. It's still most definitely her, but the skinniness reminds her of herself from before the Academy. Before she was forced to change her name. For a second she saw herself looking at Claudia, not Clove. Claudia, the girl who was picked for the Academy.

Someone takes the drink away from Clove and offers her something to wipe her face with. She rejects it, and the second drink she's given, she looks into her reflection again. She tells herself, quietly "No, I'm Clove. Claudia isn't my name any more.. I'm Clove, the girl who won the Hunger Games."

Then she realizes how ridiculous it is to be telling herself who she is, and if she keeps this up she'll become one of the victors known for going insane after their games.

The rest of the trip is a blur. They land on the training center roof and someone gently tells Clove they're going to put her to sleep, a needle is injected, and exactly what they told her happens.

* * *

In the control room, chaos breaks out.

Someone suggests removing Clove from Katniss, but with all Capitol eyes on the games, and Seneca's orders from Snow, that's too risky. The suggestor takes issue with this and attempts to wrestle control from Seneca, and that's when they say a word and about half the room joins in. The other half tries to stop this, and the entire control room misses the end of the games. An avox fetches someone important, who then calls in the Peacekeepers to arrest everyone. The avox triggers the end of Games protocols on behalf of the Gamemakers.

Camera footage reveals who the dissenters were. Under torture someone admits there's a rebel plot to overthrow the government, someone else confirms who within the Gamemakers is in on it and who the leader is, and the leader names every single prominent figure in the Capitol part of the plot, leading to further arrests. The three are rewarded by spending the rest of their life in a coma rather than being executed.

Seneca, the other loyalist Gamemakers and the important man are rewarded with money and positions that mean nothing but allow them to attend certain big events as VIPs, and give them a larger salary.. The avox is rewarded by becoming Seneca's personal servant, which because of Seneca's uncapitol like feelings about avoxes involves being treated like a normal person, and when all you know is being an avox, well, it might lead to some more so called unnatural feelings between avox and Gamemaker..

No one on the outside ever hears of this. There are some crazy rumors that may or may not have been intentionally spread, but most people just think it was a high turnover year for the Gamemakers. Family thinks they all decided to become peacekeepers, or at least that's what they say openly, no one dares to question it out loud.

* * *

When I wake, I have no clue where I am. I'm in a room with soft yellow lighting coming from nowhere, and there doesn't appear to be any windows or doors, unless it's behind me. I am laying down, so I'm able to tilt my head to look behind me, and there is in fact also no windows, doors or lights on that wall. There's all sorts of tubing in the wall, all of which extend into my right arm. The room smells and sounds like the infirmary in the Academy, without the smell of blood and infections, and less screaming.

The bed certainly isn't like the Academy though. It's soft, it's warm, it's clean. Everything else is pretty clean too. The dirt and grime of the arena is gone. Scars are too, I notice as I look over myself. Scars from the Tracker Jacker stings, scars from years of training, scars from the beatings. All gone.

My lingering thought is interrupted when an Avox opens a part of the wall up and walks in with food. It's not particularly a huge meal, but I doubt I can stomach a large meal, and I'm right, because it's extremely hard to finish this small meal. Once I'm finished, one of the various tubes starts pumping something into me and I'm falling asleep again. I accidentally knock over the tray and I watch it shatter into a million shiny Tracker Jackers, and I try to scream and escape, but I can't, the liquid has already immobilized me and I'm out before I can do anything.

* * *

Once the final knife is thrown, Stephanus nearly jumps out of his seat in celebration, but he stops himself remembering that there are still other mentors in the room.

Alina, one of the District 5 mentors, rises. "Congratulations." is all she says before leaving. Stephanus looks around and realizes the mentor for 12s tributes has already gone. Probably to drink if Stephanus had to guess. The few occasions he did see him he was drinking.

Stephanus made sure that none of the other mentors were still in the room before he finally did jump out of his seat and celebrate. He took it all in. Just last year he had won his games. Glorious games they were, 8 kills, one of the best games according to many Capitolites. Five times before had a District won back to back, and now Stehpanus' name would forever be etched in the history books, alongside Clove's, with some of the legends of the games, as the sixth pair.

And these two most recent games have brought back honor and pride to District 2. 2's two victors before Stephanus didn't win in the most interesting fashion. Those games were known as the frozen fuck-up and desert disaster within certain Capitol circles, which isn't a good look for the winners. It's not entertaining when it's too cold or too hot to hunt down other tributes, it's not entertaining when your only kills are your fellow career tributes who were wasting supplies, it's not entertaining when there's no final showdown, the last tribute dying from the elements, there's no glory in that.

Stephanus knew that both of them would have been impressive under different circumstances, it was unfortunate that everyone else didn't get to see much of that. Vibia and Scipia had both taught him in the Academy, shaped him into the Victor he would become, and Vibia was his mentor in the games.

Clove was more of Enobaria's student, although Clove didn't really stick with any one Victor during her training. You were supposed to be under one Victor by the time you turned 14, but preferably once you reached reaping age you'd already been picked by one of victors. Clove hadn't been. She bounced around between Victors, only retained by the Academy because of her unbelievable knife throwing skills. None of the Victors were willing to take a risk on her, none of them personally trained her themselves, always leaving it to their underlings. That is of course if she actually showed up. She wasn't great at attending. Stephanus wasn't sure where she went or what she was doing when she didn't show up but there were a couple of rumours spread by immature students that probably weren't true.

Clove definitely wasn't destined to be a Peacekeeper, which was technically the Academy's purpose despite the fact that there was already a Peacekeeper school in the district, her behavioural issues would have disqualified her from that. As for being selected for the games, some of her behaviour might have gotten her some support, her attendance issues and having no real support among any instructors or Victors wouldn't have helped her get even close to being on the shortlist, let alone picked by the Victors vote. She wasn't close to the most promising in her year, which would come into consideration after these games. She'd probably be lucky to even be considered at 18 over anyone. With her knife skills she was shaping up to be the one that got away, maybe to be considered as an instructor for knife throwing for younger kids at one point.

There was no point in thinking about all this though. Clove had violently volunteered herself over the chosen girl, Clove had gone to the games, Clove had won the games. At 15 one of the youngest winners ever, and the youngest District 2 had ever seen. Against the odds, at least the odds that were thought of in District 2. The Capitol bookies gave her 5-1.

There was no point in Celebrating alone, watching his tribute be lifted out of the arena. He had to go find Vibia and Scipia, who more than likely were being swamped with interviews at the moment. Stephanus had to go give some himself.

* * *

I wake again and immediately grab my face. It feels normal. I pull my hands away and they also look normal. I realize the Tracker Jackers weren't real. I imagined them. Or did I hallucinate them? It probably was just an effect of one of the things they're pumping into me right now.

I'm brought food by that Avox again. I eat it. This cycle continues for a bit. I have no idea how long in between each of the meals are, and obviously, the Avox being unable to speak can't tell me. I could try and play a guessing game to figure it out, but I doubt I'd be told and traitors don't deserve to play games. Ironic that most Avoxes have their hair dyed red, which, at least in District 2, symbolizes loyalty to the Capitol.

The things in my right arm continuously become fewer, and the meals get slightly bigger. I'm careful not to knock over the tray again, just in case whatever they've pumped into me is still lingering. Eventually after several cycles of this there's nothing in my arm, and I'm free to move about. I can stand up and walk around the room. Despite the fact that I've been laying down for an indeterminate amount of time, my legs are rather steady.

Sitting at the end of my bed is the clothes from the Arena, although a lot cleaner than they were when I got out. More than likely it's not the exact same clothing I was wearing in the Arena but a replica.

I'm not entirely sure whether or not I'm supposed to leave. I feel around about where I thought the door was, and eventually it opens and I'm unsure of whether or not I had anything to do with it opening. I step into a wide empty hall. There might be other doors here, but I don't really care.

I walk down the hall, and around from around a corner I didn't see appears my mentor Stephanus, my stylist Zoticus, and the District 2 escort Elagabalus

I want to run towards them, but that would be childish. I want to hug them, and it's hard not to embrace Stephanus when he says "Hey, there she is, our Victor!" but I resist, that would make me look weak. Zoticus is explaining something to do with the the next couple of nights, but I can't stop paying attention to how hyped Stephanus seems to be right now, and as hard as I try not to smile, his is infectious and I can't stop myself until I'm in the elevator with Zoticus who's still going on about the next couple of nights.

Once I'm in the room I'm engulfed by the three that make up the prep team, who I understand even less than Zoticus with the three of them speaking over each other and each not seeming to realize the other two are talking as well.

I'm fed, and I kind of just nod and pretend to listen to them talk about my games. Most of what they talk about seems to be about near the end of the games, which makes sense. I only had 1 kill before then. Most of the attention would have been on the other careers for most of the games. Even towards the end, Cato was probably still the favoured career.

I look at myself in the mirrors after we're done eating, and I am still very skinny as I had seen in the reflection in the hovercraft, but the very clean skin does not remind me of who I was, but rather who I am now, and who I will be in the future, whoever I may be.

I'm cleaned in the shower, despite not feeling dirty, and once I'm dry they do make-up and all that. They're in a continuous state of talking about the games. Usually in District 2 we're much like this, always talking about the best moments in the games, and if one of ours wins we talk for weeks. And at the Academy we're looking over the games, the mistakes made, the weapon techniques. But I don't really feel like talking about the games right now. Maybe because I was in them, so it's not really exciting to discuss what I already experienced. It's not like I'd get more than two words with these three continuously talking anyway

The dress I'm going to be wearing is supposed to be in contrast to what I wore for the pre-games interviews, or at least that's what I'm told. It's really just a dark red version, with a few adjustments for my skinnier body. It might even be the same dress I wore into the interviews.

I look at myself in the mirror.

"What do you think?" Zoticus asks

"It's nice" I say

"Nice?" Zoticus questions. "Give me a better review, girl." he says.

"I'm not really a dress reviewer" I say

"So un-girly." Zoticus.

"There's no girly lessons in District 2. If you want girly, then you're looking for District 1." I say. And laugh. It's actually a half truth, according to Glimmer they actually do teach you how to be a 'proper lady' between weapons lessons and all that. No wonder we have more Victors.

Everything is prepared, and I'm brought to the area where we will be risen to the stage. It's a very well decorated area, absurdly so for somewhere that's rarely used.

There's tiny separate rooms for each of us. They basically only contain a platform to rise onto the stage from, and mine has a painting of a final kill from an older games. I try to think back to the old Victors we're taught about in the Academy, as I listen to the anthem, Caeser Flickermann introducing the prep team, loud and long applause, then Elagabalus, loud and long applause, then Zoticus, loud and long applause, then Stephanus, who has the longest applause of them all. It's on the tip of my tongue when my platform begins to rise.

The lights are blinding. Everything shakes when I come into view of the audience. They are extremely loud. I blow a few kisses into the crowd and they go even wilder. At some point I do make my way to the Victor's throne.

Caeser Flickermann calms the crowd down with a few jokes before the lights dim and the seal of Panem appears on the screen. The 3 hour recap of the games. Focused on me, of course.

It starts out with the things that happened before the games. The reaping, my little scuffle included, the chariot rides, my training score, my interview. The brief clips of the girl from 12 makes me realize they might have been pushing a rivalry between us. I'll never know what she did to get an 11.

The bloodbath isn't entirely focused on me. I only got one kill, but it was the first one, with the boy from… 9? I think?, fighting over a backpack with the girl from 12. All of the other kills during the bloodbath are shown, ending with the boy from 4 being killed by Cato. Marina didn't fully explain it, but there was some sort of dispute between the upper class and the lower class of District 4 that led to the chosen tribute not volunteering. I think it's just made up, I think there was no man worthy of volunteering in 4 this year.

Then there's us wandering around, checking out our surroundings, a shot of the girl from 5 stealing some of our stuff… that would explain things that went missing. Cato attempting to kill the girl from 8, the boy from 12 finishing her off.

The next few days they recap they seem to be pushing some kind of friendship or romance of some sort between me and Cato. They completely skip all the times Cato and Glimmer were making love.

The Tracker Jacker incident is shown in full. The girl from 12 cutting it down. I get a little angry before remembering that this is infact a recap and not the present. I watch Glimmer and Marina get stung several times. Glimmer stops running at some point and collapses, screaming for help, and Marina staggering towards the lake collapsing silently somewhere in between. It's actually kind of sad, I got along with her the best, and in another life maybe we'd have volunteered for different games, both be victors and be great friends.

The recap makes me realize just how much I was stung, and just how much the training in 2 helps in the games. They help us build an immunity to Tracker Jacker venom, as Tracker Jackers are common in forested Arenas, and forested Arenas are common. They start with extremely small and diluted amounts, but it's still terrifying when you're woozy and afraid, and the hallucinations attempt to creep in.

There's another few days of recap where nothing of note happened to the audience at least. Other than our alliance with the boy from 3, who helped us a bit and then dug up and reactivated the mines while we recovered. There's Cato mourning Glimmer, me trying to stay alert as possible under the effects, and Marvel not trying at all, and all of us treating our wounds with what we were given via sponsors. I wish this part was a bit longer, because I'm not entirely sure what was real and what I hallucinated during that portion.

I know the mines were real. They show several times the girl from 5 was able to evade the mines. I have to wonder if she watched us put them in, or watched the way we left and where we avoided standing and figured out where the mines were placed. Someone that observant would have been a great addition to our alliance, but nothing she did really showed that to us. Her mind managed to get her second, but that doesn't mean anything, only one person goes home, that's how it is and how it always will be.

Us hunting down the boy from 10, then the girl from 12 blowing up our supplies. I mutter fuck you under my breath. I'm almost certain the camera's caught that. Cato snapping the boy from 3's neck.

There's the girl from 11 getting killed by Marvel, and Marvel getting killed by the girl from 12. I doubt once he even thought that it might be a trap.

I remember watching the recap every year, eagerly awaiting each moment, but currently I'm a bit bored. I let my mind wander to other things as they continue to play moments from the games. The final showdown is shown in full. I hear myself say "I wanna watch you bleed." and smirk. I'm glad they picked that up. Then they show me killing the girl from 5, and then it ends with me triumphantly grabbing the ladder

* * *

No one ever tells Clove the girl from 5 stood and watched for several minutes before she was killed

* * *

The anthem plays again, and after President Snow takes the stage followed by a little girl carrying a cushion that holds the Victor's crown. As he places it on my head, he looks almost relieved. I'm not sure about what though, and I'm probably just overthinking his facial expression. There is several minutes of bowing and blowing kisses to the crowd before Caesar Flickermann ends the show, telling everyone to tune in tomorrow for the final interviews.

Then I'm brought to the President's mansion for the Victory Banquet. There is plenty of food, but I don't get much time to eat anything as Capitolites who I assume are high ranked, and several sponsors want to take their picture with me and have a little conversation. Several sponsors bicker a little bit over who was supporting me from the beginning, and accuse each other of supporting the other career tributes.

This takes up the entire night. Short chat, flash of a camera, repeated over and over again. The sun is rising when I get back to my room. Thankfully there's an option to black out the room, and I fall asleep quickly.

The interview goes by rather quickly. A lot of it is questions about what I assume is the Capitol's favourite parts of the games. Nearing the end, they focus on when Cato talked about honor. They twist it into what an honor it is to be a tribute, and what an honor it is to be a Victor. That's not really what Cato was talking about at that moment, but it is truly an honor to be a Victor so I just go along with it.

The interview ends, I'm in a car with Stephanus, we get to the train station, say our goodbyes to the prep team, and the train is leaving. I'm heading for home. My new home. Victor's Village.


End file.
